It's Today

Through remaining in the present, we can let go of the past and the future - the headquarters of our fears.

Lama tsony
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Hello Frosty
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"Watchman, tell us of the night."
It's night now, or it's day, or it's both.
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I enjoy reading history. History is about events. But even more history is about people, people make the events happen. If you read enough history you get the accurate impression that the human race has been at war with itself ever since the first cave man picked up a rock and threw it at someone.

You've heard the axiom "history repeats itself" and you've probably also heard that if people aren't aware of history they are in danger of repeating it. Well they apparently repeat it anyway even if they are aware. It's that repetition of events that makes history interesting to me. It means that history for me is not a linear study.

Read a newspaper, if you can find a newspaper in this E age, and you will find that all the things that have ever gone on are going on right now. The past is just the present with dust on it. And that leads me into considering the present as the only reality, which it is.

Why should we fear the past? Or why should we fear because there is a past? Most of it is a bucket of ashes and what remains should be laughed at. You made some events happen, some of them were successful and some were failures, and that about sums it up. Did you learn something from your mistakes. Good. Then that's what the past is for. Now forget it.

Why should we fear the future, or fear because there is a future? As someone said, the future is much like the present only longer. By an amazing bit of alchemy the present turns into the past just as fast as it turns into the future. And that's what makes the present, today, this hour, so important. If you do it wrong you may have a regret or two, something else to put into the bucket of ashes. But what ever you do, whatever event you make happen, it will define your future. You're making history. And once done it's best to let go of it. When you throw the rock you don't run after it to make sure it hits the target. It hits or it misses. Get on with life.

Another important thing about the present is that you can't measure it the way you can measure the past or plan the future. That's what makes it so vital. It is the only real time there is. Think of the time you've wasted going over the past in your head, your memories and your regrets. or planning or fretting about the future, while all the while this minute is waiting patiently to be turned into thought, feeling and action.

I don't "believe in yesterday." I don't believe "life is what you do while your waiting to die." Scripture says "Now is the day of salvation." Whatever "salvation" means to you, it's right in front of you.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
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It's Time Again

Your past may be silently holding your future hostage.

Unknown
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Hello Sandy
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I've been thinking and writing lately about the subject of time. Time, like the concepts of up and down, left and right is a strictly human measurement based on a limited sense of existence. In most of the universe there are no lefts and rights, up and downs. And when we talk about stars we talk about how many light years they are away from us, the distance light can travel in one year. And considering the speed of light, those distances are not only inconceivable to most people but it also means that the event we are seeing happened a long time ago. And there's that issue of time again.

What we are viewing is a stars past. Based on accumulated knowledge, an astronomer may be able to predict that stars future. But in fact he will only be predicting it's present, or its recent past. We won't know its future because we don't know its present.

Now what does that say about your life? When you look at it are you looking at your past because the present hasn't caught up with you yet and are you trying to predict your future from that past.? The past is a period of time, light years away from the now. It is useless information for predicting the future. It is best discarded or tucked away for safe keeping and ignored. It may have shaped you into what you are today, but it is a poor measurement for who you will become. That will happen because of who you are and what you do today. It's OK to have happy memories of the past as long as they are kept in their places, gathering dust. Who you are is who you are today and what you think of yourself today and what you think of yourself days, months and light years from now.

There is no time. We live at an instant. We always have and we always will.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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